Reigning from the likes of music marketing agency, Carbon, influencer and blogger network, Rocketman Media and global media agency, OMD, Ultimate Soccer CEO, Emir Mani, decided to leave the media industry to focus on his love for soccer, and create an innovative business movement with the opening of the state-of-the-art facilities last month at its flagship location in Fairfield, Western Sydney.

“Soccer is a world sport and an international language that transcends barriers and encourages positive and strong community bonds. Ultimate Soccer is emulating a business model that is huge in the UK, and as Australia’s love for the sport and participation levels continues to grow, we want to grow with it,” said Mani.

Mani has been passionately working on bringing the 5-a-side soccer experience to Australia over the last four years and has raised over $4million in investments for the development and construction of the facilities that offer activities for everyone, including bubble soccer, school camps, casual pitch hire and competitions.

Ultimate Soccer is part of a unique and innovative public-partnership with the Department of Education and Communities and Fairfield High School, with the facilities available to the school pupils during school hours, and open commercially in the evenings for the wider community.

The partnership is based on the premise of impact investing, an emerging form of business in Australia that not only sees financial return for the business, but also benefits the local community. Ultimate Soccer provides Western Sydney-siders with multi-million dollar facilities for health, fitness and social purposes, but has also created employment opportunities for the school pupils and the wider community.

With an impressive list of sponsors including Rebel Sports, FourFourTwo, Gatorade and Umbro, and ex-Socceroo Brett Emerton as the Ultimate Soccer Ambassador, Mani continues to pull from his media days to establish a strong brand that he can grow across the country, with plans to launch 10 more facilities in Australia in the next 10 years.